Monthly Archives: February 2015

The gratuitousness of this historically efficacious divine action is constantly accompanied by the commitment to the covenant, proposed by God and accepted by Israel. On Mount Sinai, God’s initiative becomes concrete in the covenant with his people, to whom is given the Decalogue of the commandments revealed by the Lord (cf.Ex 19-24). The “ten commandments” (Ex 34:28; cf.Deut 4:13; 10:4) “express the implications of belonging to God through the establishment of the covenant. Moral existence is a response to the Lord’s loving initiative. It is the acknowledgment and homage given to God and a worship of thanksgiving. It is cooperation with the plan God pursues in history”.

The Ten Commandments, which constitute an extraordinary path of life and indicate the surest way for living in freedom from slavery to sin, contain a privileged expression of the natural law. They “teach us the true humanity of man. They bring to light the essential duties, and therefore, indirectly, the fundamental rights inherent in the nature of the human person”. They describe universal human morality. In the Gospel, Jesus reminds the rich young man that the Ten Commandments (cf. Mt 19:18) “constitute the indispensable rules of all social life”. (22) Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Readings

First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm: 19:8, 9, 10, 11

Second Reading: 1st Corinthians 1:22-25

Gospel: John 2:13-15

(Masses with the first scrutiny will use Cycle A readings)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Jesus went up to the Temple as the privileged place of encounter with God. For him, the Temple was the dwelling of his Father, a house of prayer, and he was angered that its outer court had become a place of commerce. He drove merchants out of it because of jealous love for his Father: “You shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.'” After his Resurrection his apostles retained their reverence for the Temple. (584) From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Exodus 20:13

Man and woman are in relationship with others above all as those to whom the lives of others have been entrusted. “For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning, … I will require it … of man [and] of every man’s brother” (Gen 9:5), God tells Noah after the flood. In this perspective, the relationship with God requires thatthe life of man be considered sacred and inviolable. The fifth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” (Ex20:13; Deut 5:17), has validity because God alone is Lord of life and death. The respect owed to the inviolability and integrity of physical life finds its climax in the positive commandment: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18), by which Jesus enjoins the obligation to tend to the needs of one’s neighbour (cf.Mt 22:37-40; Mk 12:29-31;Lk 10:27-28). (112)

The Ten Commandments define our relationship with God and those we sojourn with on the journey of life. “You shall not”, articulates what we should not do, but do we define the dichotomy of these precepts? If we do not foster evil and fabricate our spiritual reality with false gods, then our lives should offer positive affirmations of praise to God, relish the gift of Sabbath and offer goodness in thought and deed to humanity. A life of faith is not remaining frozen in a pious posture of prayer mentally and emotionally. But allowing prayer to propel us into the service of others, grounded in respect, allowing no crevice for exploitation. For God seeks to cleanse us from our impurities and give us a new spirit (Entrance antiphon Ezekiel 36:23-26). Attuning our lives to the commandments, we revert from false disguise of inflicting the consequences of our self-seeking gain to dehumanize others. We expand our conscience to reel in God’s mercy, refreshing our souls, enlightening our eyes to see we have come out of a place of slavery.

How many times do our parishes worship the god of the status quo, the god of faith as if the parish was a religious country club or yacht club prioritizing calendar dates for social affairs, with people decked out in fine attire? Making a mockery of the Mass’ purpose, that strengthened from the gift, the call is to use the gift in service to others, not self-serving frivolity. Erecting barriers to inclusion for the disenfranchised, not just seeking their presence at our parishes, highlights foremost economic participation, not a spiritual journey. This spiritual mentality dismisses faith is predicated on God’s gift of His Son (Gospel antiphon John 3:16). To faithfully acknowledge that gift, we must prayerfully strive to live God’s commandments by not just refraining from doing evil, but truly living the depth and breadth of the commandments in pronouncement of the gift we have received.

Individual Reflection: John 2:13-25

Share with your parish community A Scriptural Way of the Cross from the USCCB

Reflect upon the Ten Commandments. How does your family live the positive affirmation of these precepts?

Prayer

Lord, help us to see out faith is not just about our sinfulness and refraining from evil, but embracing the gift of your presence abounding with goodness. An embrace of compassion, forgiveness and mercy that releases us from the slavery of unworthiness to joyfully accept your gift and freely share its blessings. Help us to see your Father’s commandments are not to restrain us, but liberate us to the freedom of respect for others, so we do not see them as competitors, advisories or label them with dehumanizing epithets. We offer our praise of thanksgiving and may we pause every Sabbath to refresh our souls in the abundance of your grace. Jesus, in your dear name we pray, Amen.

As we reflect upon Mary’s presence in the mysteries of the Rosary, we are blessed to know her. For her journey, a timeless trek, calls us to surrender, continuing conversion, humbleness and justice now.

Never before has there been such a widespread awareness of the bond of interdependence between individuals and peoples…In the presence of the phenomenon of interdependence…there persists in every part of the world stark inequalities…stoked by various forms of exploitation, oppression and corruption…we are all responsible for all…(Solidarity) is a virtue directedpar excellence to thecommon good…in the Gospel sense, to ‘lose oneself’ for the sake of the other instead of exploiting him, and to ‘serve him’ instead of oppressing him for one’s own advantage…These principles remind us…the interconnectedness of the freedoms of all the persons who interact within it, contributing by means of their choices either to build it up or to impoverish it (society).

(162, 192 and 193)Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Readings

First Reading: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

Psalm: 116: 10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

Second Reading: Romans 8:31b-34

Gospel: Mark 9:2-10

Catechism of the Catholic Church

From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master “began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. . . and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Peter scorns this prediction, nor do the others understand it any better than he. In this context the mysterious episode of Jesus’ Transfiguration takes place on a high mountain, before three witnesses chosen by himself: Peter, James and John. Jesus’ face and clothes become dazzling with light, and Moses and Elijah appear, speaking “of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem”. A cloud covers him and a voice from heaven says: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (554)

From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

Romans 8:31-32

With the unceasing amazement of those who have experienced the inexpressible love of God (cf.Rom 8:26),the New Testament grasps, in the light of the full revelation of Trinitarian love offered by the Passover of Jesus Christ, the ultimate meaning of the Incarnation of the Son and his mission among men and women. Saint Paul writes: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?” (Rom 8:31-32). Similar language is used also by Saint John: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). (30)

God handed over for us all, His most precious possession—His Son. Do we hand over our most precious possessions for the service of God? A test of our faith to articulate the depth of our belief. A process to shed the burden of gods that define our lives with false security ,a spiral of doom, void of peace that condemns us to insatiable desires. Faith in God, the Father, frees us from condemnation, acquitted from transgressions, into the freedom to live as a child of God through the intercession of Christ Jesus. This journey, in our devotion to God, takes us to the high mountain top experience. A spiritual transfiguration that loosens the bonds of accepting faith into embracing the realm of belief. An empowerment of love to move us from spiritual timidity to become servants graced with thanksgiving from not withholding anything of who we are or have. All is a gift and we only faithfully acknowledge the gifts by freely giving them away, as God gave away His Son in love. It means coming down from the mountain, journeying to our metaphorical Jerusalems. Along the way cognizant of who is by the side of the road, asking why they must gaze in bewilderment from being excluded from the journey of life, condemned because people live worshiping the gods of fear and judgment, instead of sharing the gift of God’s acquittal from the past to step forward into the mercy of the present. Addressing religiosity that demeans and excludes, since God that prefaces His kindness on love, would not condemn or exclude. Raise the challenge, ask the questions, fear not coming down from the mountain to proclaim in peace and love what we garnered from listening in our minds, hearts and souls to the beloved Son.

Individual Reflection: Romans 8:31b-34

Attend the 40th Anniversary Rice Bowl Concert. If you are not in So Cal, join the celebration via livestream:

“40 years ago, Catholics in the United States wanted to respond to famine in Africa. Could we feed the hungry through Lenten prayers, fasting and almsgiving? The answer was yes—and it came in the form of a small cardboard box. St. Monica Catholic Community in partnership with Catholic Relief Services and Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) is sponsoring a free concert event “Bring Lent to Life” commemorating the 40thAnniversary of the Rice Bowl at St. Monica Catholic Church Friday, March 6, 2015 at 8pm. Join us for a night of prayer, worship and witness to celebrate 40 years of helping people in need around the world. The evening begins with a not so typical Fish Fry at 6pm, followed by Stations of the Cross at 6:30pm and concert featuring Ben Walther, worship leader and OCP recording artist, and Thomas Awiapo, inspirational speaker for CRS originally from Ghana. Bring the whole family! For more information visit our website at www.stmonica.net.crsricebowl If you can’t join us livestream from home at www.stmonica.net/live”

Family Reflection: Psalm 116: 10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

Only about fourteen percent of children receiving school lunches in the United States receive a lunch during summer vacation. How might you parish community address this concern?

Prayer

Listen to Bob Hurd’s song Transfigure Us O Lord and reflect on the meaning of the words in your life.

As we reflect upon Mary’s presence in the mysteries of the Rosary, we are blessed to know her. For her journey, a timeless trek, calls us to surrender, continuing conversion, humbleness and justice now.

Catholic Social Teaching: Rights and Responsibilities
“The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities–to one another, to our families, and to the larger society.” Catholic Social Teaching Themes, USCCB

Catechism of the Catholic Church
The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfils Israel’s vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God’s Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil’s conqueror: he “binds the strong man” to take back his plunder. Jesus’ victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father. (539) From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

Mark 1:12-12
The universal destination of goods requires a common effort to obtain for every person and for all peoples the conditions necessary for integral development, so that everyone can contribute to making a more humane world, “in which each individual can give and receive, and in which the progress of some will no longer be an obstacle to the development of others, nor a pretext for their enslavement”. This principle corresponds to the call made unceasingly by the Gospel to people and societies of all times, tempted as they always are by the desire to possess, temptations which the Lord Jesus chose to undergo (cf. Mk 1:12-13; Mt4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13) in order to teach us how to overcome them with his grace. (175)

Mark 1:15
The Church, the community of those who have been brought together by the Risen Christ and who have set out to follow him, is “the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent dimension of the human person”. She is “in Christ a kind of sacrament — a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men”. Her mission is that of proclaiming and communicating the salvation wrought in Jesus Christ, which he calls “the Kingdom of God” (Mk 1:15), that is, communion with God and among men. The goal of salvation, the Kingdom of God embraces all people and is fully realized beyond history, in God. The Church has received “the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is, on earth, the seed and the beginning of that Kingdom”. (49)

Genesis 9:1-17
Following the destruction wrought by the flood, God’s covenant with Noah (cf. Gen 9:1-17), and in him with all of humanity, shows that God wants to maintain for the human community the blessing of fertility, the task of subduing creation and the absolute dignity and inviolability of human life that had characterized the first creation. This is God’s desire despite the fact that, with sin, the decadence of violence and injustice, which was punished by the flood, had entered creation. The Book of Genesis presents with admiration the diversity of peoples, the result of God’s creative activity (cf. Gen 10:1-32). At the same time, it denounces man’s refusal to accept his condition as creature with the episode of the Tower of Babel (cf. Gen 11,1-9). In the divine plan, all peoples had “one language and the same words” (cf. Gen 11:1), but humanity became divided, turning its back on the Creator (cf. Gen 11:4). (429)

Genesis 9:5
Man and woman are in relationship with others above all as those to whom the lives of others have been entrusted. “For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning, … I will require it … of man [and] of every man’s brother” (Gen 9:5), God tells Noah after the flood. In this perspective, the relationship with God requires that the life of man be considered sacred and inviolable. The fifth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” (Ex20:13; Deut 5:17), has validity because God alone is Lord of life and death[217]. The respect owed to the inviolability and integrity of physical life finds its climax in the positive commandment: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18), by which Jesus enjoins the obligation to tend to the needs of one’s neighbour (cf. Mt 22:37-40; Mk 12:29-31;Lk 10:27-28). (112)
For complete text visit: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html

Reflection
The deserts of our lives lead us to make a choice from our God infused free will to wander into temptation or in the harsh austerity remove the clutter clouding our acuity of God, so we freely trek to life giving sources. The bubbling spring creates an oasis of rest from our travels, unlike the never reachable mirage inherent in temptation. A desert where life is present if we only slow down and look. What looks like prickly, dehydrated sagebrush provides shelter for birds and reptiles. What element along our desert journey appears stark, useless to conventional wisdom, but gives us life, purpose, fulfillment? Kangaroo mice burrow in the desert soil. Sheltered from the extremes of temperature, winds and predators, they find security. On your desert journey, where do you find security?

The desert builds humility, for we realize within ourselves we do not possess the resources to survive—in the physical and spiritual deserts of our lives. The process, in both prerogatives, teaches us humility. The Lord desires not that we parish in the deserts of our lives for He is good and upright to show us the way. A process of realizing we cannot sustain ourselves, but life is a collective process with the Divine and collaboration with humanity. Only in that humbleness is justice understood and sought. Lives of arrogance and indifference, lacking a desert experience, fail to grasp the Lord’s pronouncement of justice. In the parchness, seeing what is lacking to nurture life at the oasis, truth unfolds like a palm faun, far from the clutter of superfluous externalities.

Deserts maybe a place of solitude. A place of beauty. A place of adaptation of our ways and heart. But a desert is also a place to share, to proclaim the kingdom of God is not beyond our reach—but close at hand if we do not wander into temptation in the desert.

Individual Reflection Psalm 25: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
How has humbleness lead you to quest for justice?

Family Reflection: Mark 1:12-15
If you live near the desert take a trek and explore. If not, take a virtual reality tour on-line. Some websites to visit:
Joshua Tree National Parkhttp://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm